An Inkling's Father
by vyhox
Summary: A young female inkling tells the story of her and her father.


When I was just a little squid, I didn't go out to much. I didn't have many friends, or any parents. I spent all my time playing my favorite Nintendo games. Mario, Zelda, Metroid, Starfox, I played everything. I really looked up to everyone, and admired Mr. Iwata's work. Their games were so much fun! I knew that I wanted to be a video game character. So I worked hard every day, trying to come up with a game idea, something that I was good at, and that could be fun. I didn't have any superpowers like my favorite Nintendo heros. I could only switch between a kid and a squid.

But after years of working, I finally came up with an idea, and mastered the gameplay. I called it **Splatoon**. I even got my friends to help demonstrate. So we all went to Nintendo HQ to pitch our game to the company. In front of us was some of the biggest people, Reggie Fils-Aime, Shigeru Miyamoto, and even Satoru Iwata himself! I was getting anxiety. I was afraid of messing up the demonstration and getting kicked out. My knees started to shake, and my eyes started tearing up. My friends didn't know what to do.

But then I heard someone right next to me. "It is okay." I looked up, and saw Mr. Iwata smiling down at me. "Please, do not feel nervous. I am sure you have practiced very much. Just do it like you always. Now, let's see a big smile!" All my fears instantly went away. Mr. Iwata had such a comforting feeling. I felt like I could do anything. So after he went back to his seat, we started our demonstration. Everyone really liked it, and gave us their approval. I was so excited! I finally got to be a part of my favorite thing in the whole world!

I got moved to my own room in the Nintendo HQ, where I had a team help develop my game. When we weren't working, I got to meet all of my heros! I met Fox McCloud, Samus, Link, Kirby, Pikachu, and even Mario himself!

But it wasn't easy, being the new IP in town. When I was first introduced at E3 2014, people didn't like me very much. They said my design was weird, and my animation was poor. Even when I showed off my game play, they weren't very interested. I tried to keep smiling, but it was really hard. It seemed like nobody liked my game, even after I worked to hard at it.

Once the conference was over, I ran to my room and cried a lot. I stayed lying on my bed for a while, but then I heard someone knocking on my door. I sat up, wiped my eyes, and asked who it was. Mr. Reggie came in with his huge smile. "Hey there champ, how you feeling?" I was always happy when he was around. I began twirling my tentacle. "I-I'm fine." He sat down next to me and put his hand on my shoulder. "Cheer up, I'm sure people will start warming up to you in no time. I started to smile too. "Y-yeah..." He saw that I was still a bit sad, and thought for a second. "Y'know, I just bet their bodies weren't ready." I instantly started laughing. Reggie's joke always gets to me. He was satisfied with the results. "There ya' go buddy." He got up and reached his hand to me. "Now come on, there's someone I want you to meet." I took his hand, and we left my room together.

He took me all the way to the top of the Nintendo HQ, and into a big fancy office room. I was super nervous, because I saw the nameplate on the door. Reggie was taking me to meet Mr. Satoru Iwata. Even though my game was just announced, I was already getting a chance to meet my childhood hero face to face. We met that one time before, but I didn't even say a word to him. I didn't know what to say. He was in his chair, writing on some papers. He must be super busy. But when he looked up and saw me, he put all the papers aside.

"I heard you were upset about the E3 conference." I looked down at my feet, embarrassed that he knew. "Yeah..." He let out a small chuckle. "Please, do not upset. I will work hard to make sure your game will be Big Success!" His words made me feel all fluttery. I looked up, and saw him looking right at me, with a big smile on his face. It felt so nice being next to him. He felt warm and kind. I could barely express my feelings. "Th-thank you Mr. Iwata!" He got up and walked towards me. He put his hand on my head and said, "Please, call me 'dad.'" I felt my cheeks heat up. I never had a dad before, so I wasn't sure how to respond. "O-okay. Thank you, daddy." My entire face turned red, as Mr. Iwata, no, as 'daddy' rubbed my head "Now, let's see a big smile!" His hand was big and warm. I looked up at him and smiled.

So the Nintendo team worked super extra hard to make my game great. And when it finally released, it was a huge success! Just like daddy said it would! It was finally happening, I was becoming a Nintendo character! I got to stand next to all my heroes, and I even got my own amiibo! We had held party for the success of my game, and I got to get close to all of the others. We talked about a lot of things. But what I remembered the most, is that everyone considered Mr. Iwata as a father. I really liked it. It was like we were all one big family. I was the happiest I ever was.

But then...'that' happened. When I heard the news, I couldn't believe it. Everyone got super sad. It wasn't fair! I only had my new daddy for a year, and he's already gone. He worked so hard for me, he made my game a Big Success, like he said he would. So why? Why did he have to leave? I spent the rest of the day crying in my room. I didn't care about my game anymore. I didn't care about the money, or the fame, or the amiibos. All I wanted was my daddy back.

Everyone attended the funeral. Everyone from the company, every video game character, and tons and tons of fans. Everyone wore fancy black suits and dresses. I cried the entire time. I wanted daddy back. I only had him for a year. I was alone all my life, and when I finally got someone, he leaves me. I was sure no one was more sad than me.

But then I heard strange noises. I looked around, and saw that everyone else was crying. Even Mr. Reggie, who's usually all smiles. But today, he had a super serious look on his face. Then I looked over and saw Mr. Mario, crying the hardest out of everyone. Mr. Luigi and Mrs. Peach tried their best to comfort him, but he kept on crying. I felt ashamed. Everyone here knew daddy a lot longer than me, and were a lot closer to him. Mr. Mario knew him the longest, so it must be super painful for him. Everyone was more sad than me.

As the funeral finished up, everyone was given the chance to go up to the funeral and see him. Everyone lined up, and spent some time in front of him. Mario stopped crying, but when he got up to daddy, it looked like he might have started crying again. When it was my turn, I had a hard time looking at him. But when I finally did, I saw that daddy looked at peace. Even now, I felt nice and warm, but I still felt like crying. I didn't know what to say. But then I remembered something he always said. " _Now, let's see a big smile!_ " I thought it would be hard, but I remembered the time he said that when we first met, and when I went to his office. His had always felt to warm. I gave a big smile for daddy.

Everyone started working again, harder than ever before. We all knew that we had to keep up daddy's work. Even me. I'm working hard to make Splatoon the best it could be. And while it's sad, I know daddy is still watching over me. I need to make sure his hard work is always remembered. And I need to make sure I always have a big smile!


End file.
